The Ladder Theory
by wintaer
Summary: Ishida Uryuu knew about the ladders...


_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach, only play with the characters_

The Ladder Theory

Ishida Uryuu knew about the ladders…

Or more precisely, he knew about The Ladders. They were important enough to garner the capitalization.

It was something that he had happened upon once in the small corner of the library dedicated to psychology. The dusty tome had mentioned the concept of "The Ladder Theory" stating that girls had two 'ladders' on which they ranked their male acquaintances. One was the 'friend' ladder, reserved for the guys they would spend time with but never date, while the other was the 'potential' ladder, the rungs of which could only be occupied by those they would consider having a relationship with. A guy's actions could move him up or down on his assigned ladder, but there was no bridge between the two, making it hard for those on the 'friend' ladder to cross over to the 'potential' ladder.

Of course, the male acquaintances of said girls never actually knew which ladder they belonged on. Many had fancied themselves on the 'potential' ladder, only to declare their love and belatedly find out that he was actually on the 'friend' ladder when the girl rejected them. This would often lead to residual awkwardness between the two parties involved, and consequently, the unfortunate guy would end up several rungs below where he had originally stood, instead of on the sought-after 'potential' ladder.

Uryuu knew that he was on Inoue Orihime's 'friend' ladder. He would have had to been both blind and extremely stupid to not realize that there was only one man on her 'potential' ladder, and that that man was none other than Kurosaki Ichigo, shinigami extraordinaire.

Despite the fact that _he_ was the one who shared the same interests as her, that _he_ was the one who would walk her home everyday after the Handicrafts club, that _he _was the one who had looked after and protected her in Soul Society, that _he_ was the one who had lost his reirykou trying to keep her out of that mad scientist's hands while Kurosaki was off saving Kuchiki-san, she still did not see him as anything other than a good friend. Her eyes would linger on the orange-headed idiot while_ his_ would follow her. Her heart would race whenever she made eye contact with Kurosaki, never aware that she made his heart pound each time she smiled. He loved her, but knew that she loved another.

He also knew that he would never, _ever_, confess those feelings to her; _could_ never tell her those three precious words, because of the menacing presence of The Abyss.

The Abyss… It was dreadful enough to earn the capitalization. The book had warned him about it; the deep, dark abyss that lay in wait between the two ladders. It crouched there, ready to snap up anyone stupid enough to try and leap across the chasm separating the 'friend' and 'potential' ladders. He had seen the despair it could wrought in those it dragged off the 'friend' ladder and swallowed whole into its stomach of suffocating awkwardness and terminated friendships, if given the slightest opportunity.

He would not give it even the smallest glimmer of a chance.

Orihime would never know of his feelings because he would never tell her, no matter how much it burned at his heart. He did not want to ever have to see pity in her eyes as she stuttered out that she did not love him, that she only saw him as a friend, that they were better off as friends. He would not make her feel awkward around him and run the very high risk of avoiding him completely before dropping him down into the gaping jaws of The Abyss. Her friendship was too precious to gamble.

So no matter how much it hurt him to listen to her talk about Kurosaki, talk about her _love_ for Kurosaki, he would listen. He would listen to her with an understanding air, pasting a gentle smile on his face to hide the pain each word of hers would cause, then offer her advice. He would settle for being there for her, offering a shoulder for her to lean on when life threatened to suffocate her ever-present cheerfulness out of her. He would protect her with his bows and arrows whenever harm would come her way, would willingly throw his life in front of hers if it meant that she would be able to continue living and loving.

He had ceded every spot on her 'potential' ladder to Kurosaki, because despite all logic, he was the one who made her happy. Instead, he had sought consolation in the knowledge that the top rung of her 'friend' ladder belonged to him and him only. He had contented himself with that, had vowed to cling to that rung with all his strength, so that he would at least have that to warm himself with when the biting cold of bitter loneliness raged through his soul.

And that was probably why he was so surprised when Orihime had flung her arms around him and kissed him on the lips before blushing madly and running off into the rain without her umbrella.

Of course, he had done the gentlemanly thing and chased after her with the dropped umbrella, grinning all the while because it seemed that the ladders and the abyss had somehow managed to lose their capitalization.

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_**A/N:** First IshiHime piece and posting it before I rush off to Germany for a 10-day vacation. Tell me what you guys think!_


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